Lime-Mint Granita

Hmmm, haven't posted a recipe in, oh, about ten days...a definite departure from my previous regularity. I must confess that we've ordered a bit more take-out in the past couple of weeks than usual with a lot going on in the Goodwin household. The most notably is my return to work (part time). True I am working mostly from home, only going into the office once a week, but nap time and night time blogging has become work time, so posts may be less frequent for a while. Okay, enough about that.

Today is my eight year wedding anniversary! My husband's favorite food of all time in Mexican, in any shape or form, he loves it. He says he could eat Mexican every day of his life and not grow tired of it. In fact, when we took a trip once to the Yucatan and literally ate Mexican every meal for a week, he was in heaven. So. I decided tonight I would make chicken enchiladas (post to follow) and a lime granita.

This treat is a wink and a nudge to one of my favorite cocktails, the mojito...ah that Cuban delight. I typically make it virgin, as I did this time, but add a little rum (as indicated) and you've got yourself the real thing...just frozen. 

Lime-Mint Granita

1 cup boiling water

1 box JELL-O Lime Flavor Gelatin

1 cup lemon-lime soda (i.e. Sprite)

1/4 cup  rum (optional)

2 T finely chopped fresh mint

2 T lime juice (fresh if possible)

Add boiling water to gelatin mix in medium bowl; stir 2 minutes until completely dissolved. Stir in remaining ingredients.

Pour into an 8-inch square dish and freeze for at least 3 hours. Spoon the frozen mixture into large bowl or stand mixer. Beat with mixer on high speed until it has a snow cone'esque appearance. Use an ice cream scoop to scoop out granita into a small bowl and serve immediately. 

Any leftovers can be returned to the freezer; I put the leftovers in a blender with some milk a few days later and made lime sherbet smoothies, yum! 

Follow this same method for any flavor you like, really. Pick your JELL-O flavor, pick a fresh herb or some fruit, and pick your juice to match and voila! For example, try a strawberry JELL-O mix with fresh mint or even sweet basil and pineapple juice, or blue raspberry JELL-O with blueberries and lemon juice...you get the picture.